At times i wonder... If we humans, really belong to this earth???
Or, we are just programs destined for destruction. We tend to destroy everything around us - the planet we live in, the nature - the very source of our life, the lives that are not like us, the lives that are like us (fellow humans), the people we hate, the people we love, and at times - simply ourselves. For everything we claim to create, we destroy something more precious, something that is beyond our capacity. They say there are around 3-30 million species on earth, but no one has ever seen any other species causing such kind of destruction and still we call ourselves - "The most intelligent species on earth"
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Hi
I have been thinking of starting a Blog for the last 6 months, but due to some reason or other I was not able start the same. Recently I traveled to the mythical “valley of flowers” and to my old school. In these one and half months, I have gone through more emotions then I have experienced in last one and half year. I felt, “it’s now or never”, if I don’t start a blog right now, I will never do it. I sharing some of my experiences here...
Sometimes it’s essential to push yourself beyond your limits…
I haven’t been keeping well for last few years, my cold and dust allergy had aggravated a lot due to various reasons. I would suffer from cough and cold every other day. I was fed up of being sick. I would get tired after climbing even two flights of stairs. I knew it was entirely foolish on my part to go for the valley of flowers trek (a 36 km walk with a 6000ft climb) still I decided to go for it simply because I wanted to do it. And I am very very happy that I decided to take the trek and completed it. The reward was awesome.
The valley was breathtaking in beauty. The springs gurgled and danced, the wind whispered in your ears, the mountains breathed, the flowers welcomed you and the trees caressed. A sip from the mountain spring took away all our tiredness after kilometers of walk. The valley still looks like a dream to me. We saw glaciers, walked in the clouds witnessed landslide and drank from the streams whose water was no less than nectar.
On our way we met a lot of people going for Hem Kund Sahib (a Sikh pilgrimage, the Gurudwara is situated at a height of 14500 ft which leaves you with a climb of 8000ft). There were all kinds of people walking, men and women, young and old, with all kinds of health. It was amazing to see what faith can do to people; middle aged ladies, who had probably never done exercise in their entire life, were climbing 8000ft on foot.
Next day we did go to Hem Kund Sahib but we took ponies as I had injured my knee the day before. On the banks of Hem Kund or Laxman Talab we found patches and patches of Bramha-kamals sprouting from the rocks. On seeing these beautiful flowers my husband uttered these words which so beautifully summarizes the Himalayas.
"It’s a place where death dwells at every step of life,
And life sprouts from every corner of death. "
I am very much thankful to my dear husband for taking me to the valley of flowers and being with me through all my craziness. It was the most wonderful holiday I ever had.
The valley was breathtaking in beauty. The springs gurgled and danced, the wind whispered in your ears, the mountains breathed, the flowers welcomed you and the trees caressed. A sip from the mountain spring took away all our tiredness after kilometers of walk. The valley still looks like a dream to me. We saw glaciers, walked in the clouds witnessed landslide and drank from the streams whose water was no less than nectar.
On our way we met a lot of people going for Hem Kund Sahib (a Sikh pilgrimage, the Gurudwara is situated at a height of 14500 ft which leaves you with a climb of 8000ft). There were all kinds of people walking, men and women, young and old, with all kinds of health. It was amazing to see what faith can do to people; middle aged ladies, who had probably never done exercise in their entire life, were climbing 8000ft on foot.
Next day we did go to Hem Kund Sahib but we took ponies as I had injured my knee the day before. On the banks of Hem Kund or Laxman Talab we found patches and patches of Bramha-kamals sprouting from the rocks. On seeing these beautiful flowers my husband uttered these words which so beautifully summarizes the Himalayas.
"It’s a place where death dwells at every step of life,
And life sprouts from every corner of death. "
I am very much thankful to my dear husband for taking me to the valley of flowers and being with me through all my craziness. It was the most wonderful holiday I ever had.
Miracles do happen, all around us…
Some may call it a mere coincidence, and some a miracle. Whatever it was, it was beyond my comprehension. The weather was sunny and we (me and my husband) were taking photographs with the beautiful Bramha-kamals. Another group of trekkers climbed up to take photographs. A glacier was visible at the top. It appeared as if you can just run and touch the glacier. After the photography session, my husband moved towards the glacier and I came down with the other trekkers, as it was starting to get cold and I had left all my woolens on the banks of the Hem Kund Lake. By the time we came down it was freezing cold. I pulled my jacket on and the other trekkers left in a hurry.
Within a few seconds the visibility dropped to zero. I was worried how my dear husband will find his way back, in middle of this white darkness. Every passing minute appeared like an hour, the visibility was so poor I was not even able to see the Hem Kund Lake which lied hardly 3 meters from the place I was standing. The only company I had was the sound of the flowing Laxman Ganga River. To top it up, every now and then huge rocks would tumble down into the lake because of a landslide, some 200-300 meters away from the place I was standing, along the bank.
My husband had said he will come back in 10 minutes, but I knew it will take him at least 20 minutes. When he did not come down for 30 minutes, I got really worried, all sort of thoughts started to come into my mind, what if he misses his path and moves toward the landslide area, what if he faints in the path, he doesn’t even have water with him. I got a bit scared; I even thought of going to the Gurudwara and ask for help. I looked for the path; it too had vanished in the cloud. Then I thought what if he comes down and didn’t find me here; and I who normally do not pray, turned towards the likely direction of the Gurudwara and requested to my favorite Gods and the wise sprits guarding the area to forgive my husband for his foolish decision and assist him come down safely. I turned towards the glacier and waited. It was probably a minute when the cloud suddenly lifted, as if by magic and I could see my husband coming down. I turned towards the shrine to say “Thank you”, and by the time I had turned back, he was gone again. But this time I knew, he was safe and coming down.
After waiting for another 15 min in the white darkness my husband emerged from it and tears rolled down from our eyes. Soon the cloud lifted and it started to drizzle, we rushed towards the Gurudwara and enjoyed the hot khichdee and chai at the langar. It was one of the best meals we ever had. His side of the story is even more interesting but I will leave it for him to tell.
Within a few seconds the visibility dropped to zero. I was worried how my dear husband will find his way back, in middle of this white darkness. Every passing minute appeared like an hour, the visibility was so poor I was not even able to see the Hem Kund Lake which lied hardly 3 meters from the place I was standing. The only company I had was the sound of the flowing Laxman Ganga River. To top it up, every now and then huge rocks would tumble down into the lake because of a landslide, some 200-300 meters away from the place I was standing, along the bank.
My husband had said he will come back in 10 minutes, but I knew it will take him at least 20 minutes. When he did not come down for 30 minutes, I got really worried, all sort of thoughts started to come into my mind, what if he misses his path and moves toward the landslide area, what if he faints in the path, he doesn’t even have water with him. I got a bit scared; I even thought of going to the Gurudwara and ask for help. I looked for the path; it too had vanished in the cloud. Then I thought what if he comes down and didn’t find me here; and I who normally do not pray, turned towards the likely direction of the Gurudwara and requested to my favorite Gods and the wise sprits guarding the area to forgive my husband for his foolish decision and assist him come down safely. I turned towards the glacier and waited. It was probably a minute when the cloud suddenly lifted, as if by magic and I could see my husband coming down. I turned towards the shrine to say “Thank you”, and by the time I had turned back, he was gone again. But this time I knew, he was safe and coming down.
After waiting for another 15 min in the white darkness my husband emerged from it and tears rolled down from our eyes. Soon the cloud lifted and it started to drizzle, we rushed towards the Gurudwara and enjoyed the hot khichdee and chai at the langar. It was one of the best meals we ever had. His side of the story is even more interesting but I will leave it for him to tell.
Colors of the Rainbow
About two weeks back I went for my school reunion. While talking to a friend she casually mentioned, her husband sees the world in black and white and she tries to tell him – “the world is not black and white, there’s also a color called gray”. I went into memory lane, as these were exactly the words my husband has told me so many times. I don’t know why but I wanted to shout “don’t do that”. I felt that urge probably because I too see the world in black and white that too in dot matrix, we started to talk on some other topic and I forgot the matter. The next day while I was traveling alone in the train the thoughts came back to me, I started feeling uncomfortable I wanted to tell her not to do so, but I didn’t know what to tell her or how to tell her. Then suddenly something spoke within me, I will quote the exact words here -
“It’s true the world is not black and white, but then there’s a bigger truth the world is not grayscale either; it’s colorful, as colorful as the rainbow. Each color has its own beauty and its own significance. All three views are different from each other, yet each of them is beautiful in its own way. “
And then something strange happened - the urge to stop her from doing so simply vanished. I realized, I was my own dilemma and the truth has just revealed itself to me – “Look for the Colors”. Suddenly I knew - my picture will probably still remain dot-matrix but now I could sense the colors of the rainbow slowly seeping in the picture and the black and white dots gradually changing to colored dots.
“It’s true the world is not black and white, but then there’s a bigger truth the world is not grayscale either; it’s colorful, as colorful as the rainbow. Each color has its own beauty and its own significance. All three views are different from each other, yet each of them is beautiful in its own way. “
And then something strange happened - the urge to stop her from doing so simply vanished. I realized, I was my own dilemma and the truth has just revealed itself to me – “Look for the Colors”. Suddenly I knew - my picture will probably still remain dot-matrix but now I could sense the colors of the rainbow slowly seeping in the picture and the black and white dots gradually changing to colored dots.
You don’t have to go far to find happiness…
He was my co passenger in the train from Bhubaneshwar to Delhi. His story seemed to come directly from the pages of RD (Reader’s Digest).
When I first saw him he appeared like one of those special children. He lacked movement in his legs, his eyes will not focus. He even had difficulty grabbing things in his right hand. He needed support for sitting too. He was with his parents. Initially what amazed me was the amount of love and care the parents had for the child and how the kid was laughing and chatting with his parents in spite of all his physical difficulties. His face reflected pure happiness. Then I heard his parents updating each other on daily activities, I was a little curious, and I am sure it was the same for the other co passengers too. Someone asked the dad “Is he like this from birth?” The dad responded “Oh no, he was a perfectly normal child at birth” and started narrating his son’s story.
Anand was born as a perfectly normal child or rather a healthy child; he even started walking at the age of 11monthes. At the age of 13 months he developed diarrhea and had to be admitted to a local hospital. It was night Anand was put on saline and the doctor left for home after instructing the nurse. Soon Anand started to develop temperature. His parents started to get worried and when the temp reached 104º F, they rushed to the doctor’s home and woke him up. But by the time the doctor reached the hospital it was late and Anand had already slipped into coma. His parents took Anand to a bigger hospital but the hospital refused to admit him as according to the doctors nothing was left, Anand was as good as dead. His parents went from hospital to hospital without any success. Finally they come across a senior doctor whom the medical fraternity referred as mad man. He was ready to admit the child but had a few conditions
When I first saw him he appeared like one of those special children. He lacked movement in his legs, his eyes will not focus. He even had difficulty grabbing things in his right hand. He needed support for sitting too. He was with his parents. Initially what amazed me was the amount of love and care the parents had for the child and how the kid was laughing and chatting with his parents in spite of all his physical difficulties. His face reflected pure happiness. Then I heard his parents updating each other on daily activities, I was a little curious, and I am sure it was the same for the other co passengers too. Someone asked the dad “Is he like this from birth?” The dad responded “Oh no, he was a perfectly normal child at birth” and started narrating his son’s story.
Anand was born as a perfectly normal child or rather a healthy child; he even started walking at the age of 11monthes. At the age of 13 months he developed diarrhea and had to be admitted to a local hospital. It was night Anand was put on saline and the doctor left for home after instructing the nurse. Soon Anand started to develop temperature. His parents started to get worried and when the temp reached 104º F, they rushed to the doctor’s home and woke him up. But by the time the doctor reached the hospital it was late and Anand had already slipped into coma. His parents took Anand to a bigger hospital but the hospital refused to admit him as according to the doctors nothing was left, Anand was as good as dead. His parents went from hospital to hospital without any success. Finally they come across a senior doctor whom the medical fraternity referred as mad man. He was ready to admit the child but had a few conditions
- 1. His parents will have to sign a contract which says - the doctor will not be responsible in case anything happens to Anand, or in case he does not show any improvement.
- 2. No one will ask any question for the next three days.
Anand was finally admitted. During the next three days he came out of coma a few times, but then he would slip back to coma within a few minutes. This pattern went on for 20 days. His little body started to swell and there was not a single nerve to be seen for the doctors to pierce a needle and give saline. The doctors assembled together for a discussion. They discussed feeding, but it was not an option as it would have made Anand’s body swell and could have put his life in danger. Once again the same senior doctor came to his rescue. He made a statement which horrified the others - “अगर खाना नहीं दिया तो बच्चा यूँ भी मर जाएगा, जब मारना ही है, तो भूखा क्यूँ मारते हो, खिला पिला के मारो” (If you don’t feed, the child will die anyway, when you have to kill why kill him with hunger; let him die with a full stomach). The discussion went on for a long time and finally it was decided if the parents say yes the child will be fed. Anand was fed. He was kept under observation for the next 24 hour. He finally came out of coma but by then it was too late, he had turned into a vegetable. He had no vision, no hearing power, no speech and no movement in his limbs. The investigation said –the saline bottle was contaminated and has infected his brain. Probably the damage would have been less if he had received immediate medical help as soon as the temperature started. What was done was done and could not be redone.
It’s been 7 years since this incident happened. A panel of 7 doctors is treating him. Every three months his parents bring him to the Indian Spinal Injuries Centre for his regular checkup and treatment. In these 7years he has shown a lot of improvement, he has got back his speech and hearing power, he has normal weight, he gained full movement in his left hand and partial movement his right hand, he still can’t focus his eyes but he manages to see, he recognizes people. God knows how he manages see without his eye’s being focused, even his doctors are perplexed.
All this haven’t come easy. Behind these improvements, in addition to the treatment goes his parent’s endless patience, his extreme love for life and six hours of daily exercise. His parents had to take up jobs in two different cities to pay for the charges of physiotherapist, and meet only once in 15 days.
Within the short span of the journey Anand made friends with all his co passengers, he shared his toys, told stories, recited poems and chanted Sanskrit Slokas. And all he wanted in return was claps. Every time we clapped he gave a huge smile. His joy was infectious. He made me realize – how easy it is to find joy in life; we just have to look out for the little things. God bless him.
Whoever has kept his name- there couldn’t have been a more suitable name for this little angel. Lets all pray for Anand that he could soon go to a normal school with normal children and play with them.
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